1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a dehydrated reconstitutable product which, when cooked with an aqueous liquid, forms a pulpy textured tomato sauce, soup, juice or compote, and to a process for its preparation. More particularly, this invention relates to a dehydrated reconstitutable product and process for its production wherein the product is comprised of an added starch, at least one flavoring component based on tomato solids, and optionally additional bodying components.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Dehydrated, reconstitutable edible products are well known. Their "application" and organoleptic properties, especially their taste, generally exhibit a quality for a fairly long time, which may be termed at least fully satisfactory and which shows no or only a minor difference from beverages, dishes or meal components such as sauces prepared by a housewife from fresh raw materials. However, preparations made from these well-known dehydrated products almost invariably feature a smooth, homogeneous structure. Frequently, this smooth homogeneous structure is regarded as not an inconvenience but particularly desirable since such a smooth, creamy consistency equally and quite deliberately is sought by the housewife preparing such a soup, sauce, or the like from fresh raw materials.
In certain cases, particularly in tomato sauce, tomato compote or pureed tomato soups, the housewife, however, desires and also prepares, from fresh or canned tomatoes, a product having pulpy texture or structure. This pulpy texture or structure represents an essential organoleptic quality feature which today, as a rule, still is missing completely in tomato soups, sauces, etc. made from dehydrated products. Food scientists have, of course, been aware of this deficiency for a fairly long time and have tried different ways to develop dehydrated products which, in combination with aqueous liquids, give juices, sauces, soups, etc. of a pulpy texture at least distantly resembling that of more or less finely pureed fruits of the variety in question e.g., "tomato concassee".
Attempts to solve the above-mentioned problem have proved, to put it cautiously, at best moderately useful. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,443,964, it has been proposed to combine the "non-starch ingredients" of such a dehydrated product with a pregelatinized, crosslinked, amylose-containing, powdered starch product and to heat this mixture to at least 72.degree. C. so as to effect the swelling of the starch particles therein. And in U.S. Pat. No. 4,031,266, it has been proposed to subject an aqueous mixture of tomato solids and gelatinizable starch materials, where the starch to water ratio has been selected so that only limited or partial gelatinization of the starch granules occurs, to a roll drying process for the production of a dehydrated product for "tomato beverages".
So-called "starch sponge", which is obtained when an aqueous starch paste is cooled, preferably slowly, to a point close to the freezing point or below, has been known for about one century; a description of starch sponge and its preparation is found in the article entitled "Starch Sponge--A Promising New Ingredient" by G. E. Hilbert et al, Food Industries, August 1945, pp. 878-882, incorporated herein by reference. Recommended uses of starch sponge in the food area have been confined principally to its use in candy, crackers, wafers, icings, etc., as a carrier for flavorings and to impart a crisp, crunchy texture to such products (see also U.S. Pat. No. 2,442,928 to MacMasters et al and "Starch Sponge" by MacMasters and Blom, Chemurgic Digest 4, No. 23, 1945, pp. 381-383.) In U.S. Pat. No. 4,064,282 to Hallstrom et al flavored starch sponge, in the form of relatively large pieces (about one square inch), is modified to withstand cooking by incorporating therein one or more heat stable gums.
The technique of gelatinizing and freezing starch-containing products to render them "quick-cooking" or "instant" is also known (e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 3,989,855 to Jones et al entitled "Freezing Process for Production of Instant Grits".) British Pat. No. 1,070,060 to Kellogg Company describes the preparation of freeze-dried banana (or other fruit-based) slices which will rehydrate in cold milk by combining banana puree with 5%-15% pregelatinized starch, incorporating a gas throughout the dough to provide a final porous product, freezing and finally freeze-drying the shaped pieces.
Surprisingly, although starch sponge and related techniques have been long known, the technology has not been applied (to the best of our knowledge) to provide a pulpy, characteristically home-made texture to dehydrated tomato-based sauces, compotes and the like, in spite of the fact that the art has been attempting to do this for many years.